Bridge Crossing

(Photo from the Mackinac Bridge Authority web site)

The Mackinac Bridge is quite magnificent. I admire it both for its design and for the effort it took to build it - joining the two peninsulas of Michigan over the wild waters of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Five miles long and with a total suspension of 8,614 feet, it is the third longest suspension bridge in the world - surpassed only by the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in Japan and The Great Belt Bridge in Halsskov-Sprogoe, Denmark, both of which opened in 1998. The Mackinac Bridge, however, will be holding its 50th anniversary celebration the day I am scheduled to arrive at the north side of the bridge. (For more info about the bridge, go to www.mackinacbridge.org)

I called the Mackinac Bridge Authority yesterday to followup on a letter I had sent in late February requesting permission to run across the bridge since it offers the only roadway connecting the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan. I will be approaching Petoskey via the south shore of the Upper Peninsula - and Petoskey lies about 35 miles south of the upper tip of the Lower Peninsula. The bridge would come in very handy as I approach the final miles of my journey. The catch is, the Mackinac Bridge Authority allows foot traffic only on Memorial Day (for a Memorial Bridge Run) and Labor Day (for its annual Bridge Walk). But I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask. And it didn't. I got a call back today and the Bridge Authority says No Exceptions...no foot traffic. Ah well, there was no pain involved with the rejected request, just disappointment. So! Time for Plan B.

Plan B is not too terrible.

• I catch a ferry from St. Ignace (the town on the north side of the bridge).
  
• I take the ferry to Mackinac Island - one of my most favorite places on earth (see www.mackinac.com).
  
• I run around the perimeter of the island (8.3 miles). (No motorized vehicles are allowed on the island so it will just be me running amidst fellow pedestrians and bicyclists, horseback riders, and horse-drawn carriages and wagons.)
  
• Then I catch a ferry from the island to Mackinaw City (the town on the south side of the bridge).

It will take a little longer - but it will certainly offer a delightful change of pace (so to speak)!